Henry Rainer is the Swiss Army knife of the Bayshore Christian football team. Name a position, and he has likely played it for the Eagles since joining the program in its first-ever season of fielding a team. He says it doesn’t matter what position he plays, just as long as he gets the chance to play.
So when head coach Jacy Todd approached him before last season and asked him to move from fullback to center, Rainer — listed at 5-foot-7, 180 pounds — happily agreed. It wasn’t his first time on the offensive line. Over his career he has started or backed up at guard and tackle, played along the defensive line, lined up as an H-back, fullback, running back and even some linebacker, in addition to playing special teams.
No quarterback duties yet, and he’s not the kicker, but he says he’s willing to try both if needed.
“One of my friends told (Todd) that I played center at a rec league for football for Fairhope. So that kind of got him like, oh, you used to play center? All right, sick, but I was still holding the ball. I know I wasn’t running back, running touchdowns and whatnot, but I was holding the ball and I still played both ways. So it was just as fun. Being on a smaller team, I’ve gotten to play, like, everywhere, and I love that about this school because I’ve had all the experiences.”
Todd said Rainer didn’t flinch when asked to make the switch, which he said speaks to what being a leader requires on a young and inexperienced team.
“He’s a great young man, a great student,” Todd said. “Last year, I had really penciled him in that summer to be our dive back, fullback, short-yardage guy. But unfortunately, due to an early injury, we had to move him to center, to offensive line. So now he’s getting to be able to play in some fullback-type situations and I’m really excited what he brings, not only with leadership, but with strength, toughness, and his leadership abilities.”
“To be able to make that move, it takes a little something, doesn’t it? Complete selflessness,” Todd continued. “Can you imagine you’re kind of being groomed to be a running back and all of a sudden you tell the kid, hey, guess what? You get to play offensive line now. But he understood that for us to have some success, that he was going to have to make that move, and he did it and was amazing at it. So just his mentality, all you can do is be appreciative of a kid’s selflessness in that situation. Because let me tell you, I’ve been a part of some bigger schools where we’ve asked a kid to move from linebacker to fullback, and he quit. … So I appreciate as a coach the willingness to do whatever it takes to make us better as a whole. And now I think he’s going to get rewarded this year from playing that year on the offensive line.”
Bayshore will play its third season of football this fall, opening a nine-game schedule Friday, Aug. 21, at Fruitdale, a program that has posted three straight 1-9 seasons. Bayshore finished 2-6 last year and 1-7 in 2024.
Rainer understands the challenge facing a small school with a small roster that includes several players without prior organized football experience.
“I expect to have a younger team,” he said. “We’ve got more people than we did last year, so I think it’s going to be a good year. I know we got some new competition (with AHSAA realignment), but that don’t matter. … So I’m excited for this year. We got some new guys. We got a few new seniors, so I think it’s going to be a good year.”
“… I’ve been here since we started the team, and I’ve been blessed to be there for that. But to be on Bayshore’s team, it means that you’re representing God every time you step on that field. So whenever you’re thinking about freaking out, you’re like, oh, my gosh, it’s not going our way, we’re losing, like, 20-0, what’s going on? You’re out there to represent not only yourself, but what’s on your shirt. You’re representing your family, and you’re ultimately representing God every time you’re out there. So just be disciplined, selfless, and give all the glory to God.”
“We had a JV team, I think, in 2022 with Coach Laz (Phil Lazenby), and I played on that. And then ever since then I’ve been starting since ninth grade because we’re a little bit smaller, but I love that, that’s for sure.”
A Program on the Rise
Rainer said he believes this will be the Eagles’ best season yet. It will be Bayshore’s first season as a private school Class A team alongside Bayside Academy, Cottage Hill Christian, Mobile Christian, St. Luke’s and Snook Christian from the local area, along with Northside Methodist and Providence Christian from the Dothan area. Bayshore remains among the smallest schools — and will have one of the smallest rosters — in the region, but Rainer said he expects success this year.
“The first time we went out for practice, I was kind of like, all right, well, I might be the only one out here who knows what he’s doing,” Rainer said. “Found out there were a few other guys that used to play backyard football and we were kind of figuring it out. I remember playing Orange Beach that first year, and it was really bad. We didn’t know where we were going, our footwork was terrible, we didn’t know how to tackle. It was pretty bad. And now, look at us. I mean, we know how to tackle, that’s for sure. We’re running around. We know what we’re doing. We have a playbook. That’s awesome. We can know what we’re doing before we get on the field.”
“We used to just go out there and look over to the side and be like, hey, Coach, what are we doing on this play? So it’s definitely grown a lot from that. We had like three or four that had played football, and two of them were me and my brother. So it was — I mean, we had some athletic guys, like some guys that played other sports and whatnot, but nobody really hit somebody with some pads on.”
Rainer’s older brother was among a group of students who pushed for Bayshore to start a football program, though it didn’t come together while he was still in school. It was only natural that Henry, along with his twin brother Jack, took up the cause, and when the school announced it would add football to its list of sports, the brothers were among the first to sign up.
Even a staunch supporter of the game like Rainer admits it takes a certain mindset to prepare for a season.
“Who does this? Like, you’re not normal if you do football,” he said. “Nobody likes to go and spend their summer outside, being in 200-degree weather where it feels like you’re breathing in water. Nobody likes to do that. And you’re in pads, by the way. And coach signs you to a running contest. Nobody really likes to do that. So when you’re out there, you’ve got to have some grit. But whenever tough times do come, because they will come, because in life they will come, football kind of prepares you for that.”
The Rainer Brothers
Rainer’s twin brother, Jack, returns for his senior season as well, and the effort he has made to stay with the team stands out. Jack has Crohn’s disease. While Henry stands 5-foot-7 and weighs 180 pounds, Jack is 5-foot-9 but weighs only 125.
“What we’re offering and what we’re doing, we need the Rainers, both brothers, to be here,” Todd said. “Boy, I’m excited. I want them to be able to say, ‘I did that. That added to my life, being part of that program.’ Jack is amazing. He has Crohn’s disease and has had multiple surgeries and last year he had surgery and came back to practice. He lost 35, almost 40 pounds last year, and as soon as he got out of the hospital, he’s back at practice. I mean, the kid was just as phenomenal as you could possibly be this year.”
“His stomach issues have been more under control, and his weight has gotten back up to where it’s healthy again, but these guys work harder, and I think it’s a tribute to their family, too. Their family is tremendous. They do a great job, and I think that kind of exudes from them. When they do anything, they do a great job.”
After this season, Henry Rainer plans to attend college, and he says he would welcome the chance to keep playing if a program needs someone with experience at a number of positions.
“I can talk about it all day because I love football,” he said. “I was born the first year Nick Saban was the head coach of Alabama, and we’d been winning for a long time. So, I love football. I’ve been spoiled.”